THE
ABBEY OF FONTEVRAULT

This space served as the chapter-house, a meeting place for the chapter or governing body of the monastery.

The ceiling of this spacious room is a quadrapartite ribbed vault. It
is a groined vault, created by the intersection of two barrel vaults.

Along the walls, the arches are supported on corbels rather than on
columns.

The
RefectoryThe refectory is the dining-room of a monastery.

The ceiling has a six-part vault over every bay. Along the walls,
the arches are supported on corbels rather than on columns.

The
Kitchen

This 12th century structure is the only
remaining Romanesque kitchen in France, though a similar structure is extant in
Glastonbury, England. It contains five of its original eight
apsides (half-rounded apses which were originally chapels), each with a conical turret.
The top of the structures is covered by a pyramidal roof, which is
surrounded by small tower-chimneys. At the apex is by an open-air lantern tower pierced with lancets.

Rear

Entrance

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code
are copyrighted by Dr. Alison Stones